Jan. 13, 2013
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) - Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar has a good feeling when C.J. Wilcox appears to be on top of his game. He must have been overwhelmingly happy Saturday night.
Wilcox scored 27 points and made a pair of crucial 3-pointers as the Huskies held off Stanford 65-60.
"We knew we had to keep getting him touches," Romar said. "He's a pretty prolific shooter. We kept trying to find ways to spring him loose."
Aziz N'Diaye added 14 points as the Huskies (11-5, 3-0 Pac-12) opened conference play with three straight wins on the road for the first time since 1912. Desmond Simmons added 13 rebounds.
Dwight Powell scored 19 points to lead the Cardinal (10-7, 1-3), which has lost three of four.
"We have been competitive in every single game," Stanford head coach Johnny Dawkins said. "It's a matter of us getting over the hump. We're a good team and we have to continue to work like one."
The Cardinal shot .267 from the field (8 of 30) in the second half after finding the basket .517 of the time (15 of 29) in the first half.
"It's very disappointing," Powell said. "We have high expectations of ourselves. We'll bounce back."
The lead changed hands 15 times and was tied on nine occasions before the Huskies gained a foothold early in the second half.
Wilcox, who finished a point shy of matching his career high, hit a 3-pointer to give Washington a 52-44 advantage, the largest lead of the night, with 9:56 remaining.
"They were guarding him pretty good, trailing him everywhere, being physical with him," Romar said. "He did an amazing job against that defense."
Wilcox added a career high nine rebounds and scored 13 of Washington's final 15 points.
The Huskies went scoreless for the next four minutes. The Cardinal had several chances to tie it, but managed only to cut the lead to 52-50 before another Wilcox 3-pointer broke the drought.
Chasson Randle hit a jumper to tie it again at 58 with 3:26 left, but Washington hit its next four free throws to regain the advantage.
Randle, who did not start due to an infraction of team rules, was 6 of 7 from the floor during the first half as Stanford took a 36-35 lead into intermission.
Halftime activities included the honoring of Stanford's Rose Bowl champions. Offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton made a half-court shot, the only successful attempt among players and coaches.
- by Rick Eymer, Associated Press
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NOTES: Stanford now leads the all-time series 70-68 ... Tonight marked Washington's first visit to Maples Pavilion since Jan. 13, 2011, when Stanford notched a 58-56 upset when the Huskies were ranked No. 17/18 ... Dwight Powell has scored in double figures four straight games while Chasson Randle has reached the same mark in three consecutive games ... The Cardinal shot 51.7 percent in the first half but only 26.7 percent in the second ... Washington dished out six assists but committed 12 turnovers. Stanford handed out seven assists but was victimized by 10 turnovers ... Rosco Allen chipped in with eight points, making 6-7 from the line. Allen has totaled almost as many free throw attempts (42) as field goal attempts (49) this year ... Andy Brown added eight points and three assists.
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QUOTES
Stanford Head Coach Johnny Dawkins
"I thought they made plays at the end of the game that needed to be made. I thought their guys stepped up, made big shots, made some free throws and I thought we had some opportunities and we didn't complete the plays. Unfortunately, guys are having to learn how to do that because we have some guys in new roles. I think they're figuring it out, but it's going to be a little bit of a process for them, and they're going to get it. I like Dwight's move at the end. I thought he had the opportunity to maybe spin back and get a little better layup in the lane, and unfortunately you're not in those positions that often, so we're learning to do those things.
"I thought our looks were good, to be quite frank. Guys were pretty much wide open. Unfortunately they didn't go down tonight, and we've been shooting the three pretty well the last three or four games in a row. I thought in the first half, our execution was really good, ball movement, we did that really well. The second half I didn't think we moved the ball as well but we still got pretty good looks from three."
"We need to work on our kids understanding that they're a good team, and understanding that we've been very competitive in every single game we've played. Ours is a matter of getting over the hump. And getting over that hump is something you have to learn to do for any team, especially a team that hadn't had guys in that position that often. So that's where we are, and we have to continue to work on them understanding their psyche is, `We're a good team.' We have to go out there, get better this week, and show those improvements next week when we play again."
Stanford Senior Dwight Powell
"We just need to play tougher. They played tougher for 40 minutes. We need to get those 50-50 balls and rebound, both on the defensive and offensive end. So, we've got to get tougher."
"It's very disappointing, obviously. We have high hopes and high expectations for ourselves, but we're going to bounce back. We're not going to let this get us down. We've got another game coming up this week, so we'll try to take the lessons that we have from this game and move forward."
Stanford Guard Chasson Randle
"It's just the little things down the stretch that we didn't do, whether it was getting open on a lane, screening for one another, blocking out or getting that loose ball. We didn't do it tonight and overall that resulted in a loss. They were closing out a little bit more, but that just opened out other things that we could have done, like attacking the basket."
Washington Head Coach Lorenzo Romar
"We have a pretty good feel for when C.J. (Wilcox) is on. We knew that we had to keep getting him touches -- he's a pretty prolific shooter. We kept trying to find ways to spring him loose. They were guarding him pretty good, trailing him everywhere and being physical with him. He did an amazing job against that defense."
"We were surprised that (Chasson) Randle wasn't starting. But we don't coach their team -- there's a reason for it. Bad move or not a bad move, I just know we were surprised."
"It's great. I've never been part of anything like this. We've had plenty of successes over the years but never gone on the road and won our first three."
Washington Senior C.J. Wilcox
"I had Abdul (Gaddy) and Andrew (Andrews) looking for me, so that definitely helps, but yeah, they know to look for me when I'm hot. Coach told us to be aggressive and look for me off screens. I was feeling it."
"Clearly, Scott (Suggs) wasn't getting it going, so Coach Romar told me to get more aggressive and take my shots. In previous games, we were able to key on certain players, but Stanford has so many options that you can't focus on one guy. In the second half, we sort of broke them down a little. In the first half, we sort of felt them out, but in the second half we buckled down, and the biggest thing was getting rebounds."